is-operator.md

title	Is Operator (Visual Basic)
ms.date	07/20/2015
ms.prod	.net
ms.reviewer
ms.suite
ms.technology	devlang-visual-basic
ms.topic	article
f1_keywords	vb.is
helpviewer_keywords	comparison operators [Visual Basic] equivalent objects TypeOf...Is expression Is operator [Visual Basic]
ms.assetid	8045a6c8-2a83-45b6-ad47-d09a704c656d
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Is Operator (Visual Basic)

Compares two object reference variables.

Syntax

result = object1 Is object2  

Parts

result
Required. Any Boolean value.

object1
Required. Any Object name.

object2
Required. Any Object name.

Remarks

The Is operator determines if two object references refer to the same object. However, it does not perform value comparisons. If object1 and object2 both refer to the exact same object instance, result is True; if they do not, result is False.

Is can also be used with the TypeOf keyword to make a TypeOf...Is expression, which tests whether an object variable is compatible with a data type.

Note

The Is keyword is also used in the Select...Case Statement.

Example

The following example uses the Is operator to compare pairs of object references. The results are assigned to a Boolean value representing whether the two objects are identical.

[!code-vbVbVbalrOperators#27]

As the preceding example demonstrates, you can use the Is operator to test both early bound and late bound objects.

See Also

TypeOf Operator
IsNot Operator
Comparison Operators in Visual Basic
Operator Precedence in Visual Basic
Operators Listed by Functionality
Operators and Expressions